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Who We Are: Biographies




Merritt Hamilton Allen, Executive Director
Merritt founded Vox Optima in 2005.
With extensive background in broadcast radio, media relations, communication training, issue management
and crisis communication, she won a $5 million contract with her first proposal for Vox Optima. In 2004, Merritt distinguished herself and all of us by being the 122nd person beaten by trivia megalomaniac Ken Jennings on Jeopardy! She lives in the mountains east of Albuquerque where she and her husband run one head of dachshund and one of cat.
(And yes, she really is a disabled veteran,
but you can’t tell most of the time.)

Gary Potterfield, Managing Director
Gary holds a master’s degree in film production and has trained hundreds of military broadcasters. You can’t tell he’s funny until he opens his mouth; his master’s film project was a sitcom pilot that was selected for showing at the Delray Beach Film Festival. He has extensive international experience and an unmatched background in video/multimedia production, communications planning, speechwriting and media relations. Gary and his family live in Maryland and are restoring a house in Sicily—Italy!

Daniel Charles Ross, Managing Director
Dan is our “been there, done that” guy with more than 25 years of diversified experience (he entered the workforce at the age of seven). His background ranges from active service in the Army to working as a national-tier automotive journalist, directing multi-million-dollar marketing accounts for the auto industry, and editing award-winning internal publications for the U.S. Navy. His production experience spans print editorial and design, video and multimedia. He’s married to fellow Vox Optimite Andrea Ross.

James Slater, Managing Director
James claims to be our adult supervision because he has an MBA. But he is really much more interesting than that with more than 20 years of experience in international relations, graphic design, video and multimedia production, and publication management. He held the Navy’s top print editorial post before retiring from active duty and joining Vox Optima before we even had a bank account. James claims to be a skilled musician (opinions will vary) and he lives with his family in southern Maryland.

JC Kreidel, Managing Director
JC spends much of her time trying to keep our proposal efforts organized. She notes that it’s “like herding cats with ADHD.” JC is a skilled broadcaster, writer, editor and designer and is unmatched in her ability to market stories: USA Today ran a story on new mattresses on Navy ships (we’re not making this up) after her pitch. JJC channels her free time into obsessively scanning a growing stash of business cards into an electronic database and is pursuing a master's certificate in government contracting at ODU. JC and her family live in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Andrea Ross, Director
Andrea is a former NCAA scholarship track-and-field athlete and is so competitive she scares us sometimes. She has channeled that drive into knockout client successes for Dodge Motorsports, Chip Ganassi Racing, and our Navy clients. She is a results-driven communications planner and skilled writer, editor and designer busy growing the next generation of Vox Optima employees with three children, the oldest of whom is four. Andrea and her family live in bucolic Lima, Ohio, not far from Dayton.

Joe Navratil, Director
Joe enlisted in the Navy to be a diver and wound up retiring as a senior Navy public affairs officer by way of the U.S. Naval Academy. “I didn’t get to send enough broadcast faxes in the dive community.” Joe made his mark with innovative, successful approaches to many high-visibility issues, including the Egypt Air 990 crash and the USS Cole. He deployed to the Mideast in 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and he lays claim to the first live broadcast of a national morning news show from the deck of an underway aircraft carrier. An aging surfer who enjoys his wine, Joe recently moved from Coronado, California, to the Hampton Roads, Virginia area with his wife and three children.

Nancy Harrity, Senior Communications Analyst
Being an Accredited Business Communicator is not as easy as “ABC,” unless you’ve got Nancy’s more than 15 years of proven experience in strategic communication planning and industry analyst relations. She rode the technology wave up and own, with a soft landing teaching journalism and public affairs to military trainees. As an enlisted and officer, active duty and reserve, Nancy has traveled the world providing strategic communications, media training and more — in fact, her talents were so valuable to the Navy that she was recalled out of the reserve and is serving a 10-month active duty period. With the assistance of husband, Nancy works hard to keep their cat happy in Severn, Maryland.

Mark McDonald
Mark is a University of Nebraska graduate who has not shed “Big Red Fever.” He spent 20 years in the Navy and earned a reputation for hard work, innovation and strategic vision, including as the lead public affairs officer for the largest U. S. military humanitarian assistance effort in history after the 2004 Southeast Asia tsunami. He has extensive international relations and media relations experience in Asia, Europe and Africa. Coupled with masters degrees in communication and national security/strategic studies, Mark brings the professional credentials to tackle issues we haven’t even thought of yet. He has returned to Lincoln, Nebraska to live with his wife and three daughters.

Jeremy Johnson, Executive Communications Analyst
Jeremy is the new wordsmith in our company. With 10 years of experience as a Navy journalist, Jeremy has spent plenty of time crafting stories and presentations for radio, television and print. His hobbies do not include cooking. In fact, while stationed in Japan, the fire department had to evacuate his barracks early one Saturday morning after he attempted to make breakfast. While he may not be the next Emeril, Jeremy does serve up a choice selection of literary delicacies for our largest NAVSEA client by providing carefully prepared speeches basted in the technical vernacular and garnished with just a pinch of quips for bite. He lives in Maryland.

John Doucette, Senior Communications Analyst
Early in his time as a Navy print and broadcast journalist aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt, John encountered a Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force. This SPMAGTF, as it was called, sparked a lifelong dislike of acronyms. In his ensuing career as a civilian journalist in New York and Virginia, he worked to unclutter complex messages and unpack densely symbolic titles to convey real information, simply and accurately, to a general readership. They are, after all, the people who need to eat the tasty meat beneath the gelatinous film that is jargon. John lives with his family in Portsmouth, Virginia.

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Toll Free: (866) 499-2947  l  info@voxoptima.com  l  ©2008 Vox Optima LLC
"Our Strengths Lie in the Power of Our People"

Merritt Allen
Vox Optima

Principal & Executive Director

Gary Potterfield, Managing Director

Daniel Charles Ross, Managing Director

James Slater, Managing Director

JC Kreidel, Managing Director

Andrea Ross, Director

Joe Navratil, Director

Nancy Harrity, Senior Communications Analyst

Mark McDonald

Jeremy Johnson, Executive Communications Analyst

John Doucette, Senior Communications Analyst

 
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